Breakout
by EvilRegalOncer
Summary: When Bellatrix Lestrange is freed from Azkaban, Tonks has to break the news to her mother, unleashing nightmares of Andromeda's past. Sort of a companion piece to "Set the Stage" but can be read by itself.


**Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine. If it was, Tonks would still be alive and Andromeda would have had a nice make-up session with Narcissa.**

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><p><em>If I'd known what kind of day I was going to have when I woke up, I would have gotten a bottle of firewhiskey, <em>Engorgio_'d the hell out of that thing and then drank it so now I wouldn't be thinking about this. Oh, Godric, what am I going to tell Mum?_

But she hadn't, and as the young woman stepped out of her parents' fireplace, she saw not the homey living room she'd known all her life, but the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place; Mad-Eye's scarred face, Remus' weary one and thirteen people screaming, leering and laughing at her from the front page of the _Prophet_. Her eyes had roamed over the photos, but when they settled on the last one, a dark-haired witch with heavily lidded eyes and demonic fire burning inside, she'd had to choke back a scream. That face had given her nightmares as a child, and even fourteen years later they still hadn't faded to mention the trauma of finding out that not only was Tonks related to one of the most feared Death Eaters, Bellatrix and Andromeda had once been inseparable.

Tonks had met her Auntie Bella exactly once, and that was more than enough. The encounter was forever imprinted on her mind; Bellatrix aside (sometimes she still wakes up breathing hard with the feel of claws digging in her throat), Tonks had never seen her mother look that way—so angry and sad and afraid.

"_Mummy, who was that?"_

_Andromeda's hand tightened around her daughter's. "Nobody, love. Just someone I knew a very long time ago. Don't worry." She stopped and picked Dora up, kissing her forehead and holding her protectively. "She's not going to hurt you ever again. I promise."_

But now Bellatrix was out, and while Tonks wasn't worried for herself, she was for her mother. It stood to reason that Andromeda would be a target for Bellatrix; not only had she betrayed her family name but also her sisters. The young Auror shuddered to think of Bellatrix sauntering up the sidewalk, a cruel, leering grin on her face as she very politely knocked on the door. Andromeda would open it, perhaps expecting a neighbor or even Ted, and her eyes would widen in fear and horror….

_"Pleased to see me, Meda?" A cackling laugh, the raising of a wand. "Avada Kedavra!" And Bellatrix screams with delight as Andromeda falls, her eyes open and glassy…_

_STOP._ She shook her head fiercely. _That's not going to happen. You'll make sure of it. Kingsley told you the Ministry will put protection around the house. Nothing's going to happen._

Lost in her morbid thoughts, Tonks didn't notice the very solid coffee table in front of her until she walked into it, banging her shins and throwing herself to the ground. (Not that it made any difference; even when she was paying attention she couldn't go more than a few seconds without tripping.) Yelping in pain and trying to be quiet, she tried to stand only to smack her head against the sofa. "Bollocks," she snarled, really quite annoyed by this point. "Who the hell put our bloody sofa so effing close to—"

"Don't move." Andromeda's voice was sharp and cutting as one of the lamps in the room flickered on. Tonks froze at the disconcerting sight of her mother pointing a wand in her face. The added fact of Andromeda's likeness to Bellatrix and that the latter had just been broken out of Azkaban and was running amok did not help. "Who's—oh, Nymphadora, really." She sighed and lowered her wand. "Must we go through this all the time? If you'd just pay attention, dear; you sound—"

"Sorry," Tonks muttered, heaving heard the lecture one time too many. "Won't happen again." She avoided eye contact with her mother, trying to brush past her to head for her room, but Andromeda frowned and grabbed her arm.

"What happened? You didn't even snap at me for using your full name—and your hair."

"My—oh." Tonks noticed for the first time that her usual short pink hairstyle was gone. Instead she wore mousy brown, her natural color and the one she reverted back to when something was bothering her. "Just Order business, Mum, don't worry. I'm okay."

"Nymphadora Tonks." Andromeda released her daughter's arm and set her hands on her hips. "Don't lie to me. You might be an Auror, but I know you. What's going on."

She had to hear it eventually, and Tonks would much rather Andromeda do so from her than the newspaper that was surely even now on its way by owl. The young witch closed her eyes and took a breath. "Thirteen high-security prisoners escaped Azkaban not two hours ago."

She didn't need to finish. Andromeda's breath rushed in with a hiss, letting Tonks know that she understood the unspoken information. The older woman's fists clenched at her sides, wand sparking in her right hand. "How," she finally ground out.

"Him, who else?" Tonks replied with a sort of feeble shrug. "We've suspected the dementors were on His side ever since Harry got attacked last summer—well, Dumbledore said it was only a matter of time anyways, really." She studied her mother's face carefully. "You and Dad might want to clear out and head somewhere else until we get this under control."

"I can handle Bellatrix," Andromeda spat. "I know her better than anyone except maybe Cissy." She suddenly rounded on her daughter. "You're the one who needs to go."

"What?" The air rushed from Tonks' lungs as she gaped at her mother like a landed fish. "Are you bloody mad? No way in hell am I leaving; the Order needs me—"

"She's going to come after you again," Andromeda interrupted, her voice strained with something between hate and a battered, broken love. "She knows there's nothing physical she can do to me that would hurt more than if—you or Ted—" She broke off abruptly and turned away. "Just listen to me for once in your life, Nymphadora."

"Mum, I'm an Auror, I can handle her," Tonks said gently, setting a hand on Andromeda's arm. "I was trained for this."

"Not Bella." Her voice was low, almost dangerous. "Bella was always a sadistic dueler, but Godric knows what's happened to her in Azkaban, what she's become. She will stop at nothing to get to you." Andromeda suddenly turned and pulled Tonks into her arms, burying her face against her daughter's neck. "I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

Tonks yelped as her mother hugged her. Andromeda had never been a cold person by any definition of the word, but this was the first time she had embraced her daughter so….closely. And this emotional Andromeda was scaring Tonks. "H-hey….Mum….don't worry. I'll be okay." Awkwardly she patted her mother on the back. "I mean, I probably won't even get to fight her. Now that she's out, the old questions are going to come up again; y'know, about my loyalty and all…they probably won't want me near her."

But a niggling feeling in her gut told her that she wasn't going to be so lucky.

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><p><strong>I might write a sort of follow-up to this from Andromeda's POV, don't know yet...thouights and reviews are greatly appreciated!<strong>


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